New ward opens for patients at Loughborough Hospital

The extra beds will be used partly by patients who have completed their treatment in acute hospitals but who need additional care to get them home or to a care home.

A new 18-bed ward has opened at Loughborough Hospital after the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board pledged to increase the number of community hospital beds by 52 across the eight community hospitals.

Loughborough Hospital had only one inpatient ward for many years and a second one was opened temporarily to cope with the pandemic.

Nikki Beacher, LPT’s deputy director for community health services, said: “This is great news for patients across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

“The extra capacity we have will be used particularly for patients who have completed their treatment in acute hospitals, but who require additional care to get them home or to a care home. It will also be used to prevent some patients from ever having to enter an acute hospital.

“We will offer patients nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy care to help them continue their recovery.

“At the same time, we will free capacity within acute hospitals, allowing them to care for more patients who are very, very poorly.”

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT), which runs the hospitals, is planning to take on an additional 227 staff which includes nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and support staff to provide care to the additional patients across the hospitals.